Zoe and David

On November 2018 Guts UK launched a campaign to raise awareness of pancreatitis and funds for research. Please help us by sharing this story on Facebook and on Twitter tagging @GutsCharityUK.

Zoe and David’s Story

My name is Zoe Woodham and my partner David Daly has got chronic pancreatitis. Firstly I would like to say we are very happy that something is being done to promote awareness of the condition. So this is my partner’s story. In September 2012 he got admitted to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) with chronic pancreatitis and was touch and go whether he would make it. After two weeks on HDU and a further 6 days on a ward he was discharged. David suffers everyday with chronic pain, nausea, vomiting and mood swings. He is now insulin dependent, and suffers from depression and anxiety, all due to this illness. David takes a cocktail of drugs to keep his pain at bay, which does not work sometimes and then ends up in a “flare” requiring an ambulance and hospital treatment. There is no cure for this horrible illness and David has to learn to deal with it and carry on the best he can. There are a lot of days lately where he can’t get out of bed till gone 11am, till his medications have kicked in. The only relief he gets is in the bath as he says he feels normal and isn’t in pain. Although David’s illness is down to alcohol I feel a lot more needs to be done to raise awareness of pancreatitis. As David’s partner having to watch him day in day out suffer in pain is horrific and yet we go to some GP and they don’t know what pancreatitis is.

What can you do?

Fancy fundraising for Guts UK? Have a coffee morning or dinner party with our pancreatitis quiz for the Kranky Panky Weekend. Or maybe you take our quiz and ‘Pin the Pancreas on the Person’ game into work with a collection tin? Your donations will make our research into pancreatitis happen. Thank you.

More information

Find out about acute and chronic pancreatitis in our Conditions section and read tips and suggestions on how to manage chronic pancreatitis from those affected by this condition.